Herald resists the trend

The Sydney Morning Herald's weekday circulation held ground during a period of general decline in sales of metropolitan newspapers in NSW, according to half-yearly figures released today by the Audit Bureau of Circulation.

In the six months to December 2003 circulation of the weekday edition of The Age, also published by John Fairfax Holdings, rose by almost 2 per cent on the same period last year, marking a six-year high. Sales of Melbourne newspapers were generally higher.

A tough job market in the business commuity, however, affected another Fairfax stablemate, The Australian Financial Review. Its weekday circulation fell by 1.47 per cent for the same period.

Overall the Saturday editions of NSW newspapers have been hit hard by the drop in classified advertising, with both Fairfax and News Limited titles suffering circulation falls.

Alan Revell, The Sydney Morning Herald commercial director, commented: "The Herald is performing steadily Monday to Friday. On Saturday the marginal decline reflects the cooling of the real estate market and subdued employment in NSW."

The Herald weekday edition slipped 185 copies to 221,815 against the same period last year, which included the Bali bombing. The weekday Daily Telegraph slipped 8,608 copies to 400,885 copies.

Despite a 3.55 per cent drop in sales in the corresponding period for its Saturday edition to 372,798, the Herald remains the biggest selling Saturday paper in NSW.

The Weekend Australian slipped 1.43 per cent to 291,823 and the Saturday edition of the Telegraph dropped 1.49 per cent to 336,126 copies.